Friday, December 7, 2007

Elise got her Christmas pictures taken today, and I think they turned out very well! Of course, I also have to post some of her pictures from past years for comparison - and because it is fun to see them again!

Elise's First Christmas:

My favorite memory of Elise's first Christmas is the snow! It's extremely rare that we ever see any snow at all, so it was very magical that particular year when it began to snow on Christmas Eve. The snow began in the late evening, and well into the night children were frolicking outside and building snowmen. They were all up WAY past their bedtimes, but you don't get that opportunity very often around here - especially not on Christmas!

Santa Claus was an okay guy on Elise's 1st Christmas.

Other than the snow, Elise's first Christmas was rather uneventful. It's awfully hard to enjoy the festivities when you are too little to open gifts, drink hot chocolate, or sing carols.

Elise's 2nd Christmas:

Things were much more exciting by Elise's 2nd Christmas. She was able to unwrap her gifts (sort of) and really enjoyed seeing all the fun things that show up around this time of year. The lights impressed her. Santa Claus did NOT. I had to agree to sit on his lap along with her.

Little did we know on Elise's 2nd Christmas that we were just a few months away from meeting our Coach.

Elise's 3rd Christmas:

Our 1st Christmas in our house together with Coach was very special. He really got into having a child around for the holidays. He helped Elise make special Christmas cookies to leave for Santa!

Sitting on Santa's lap was completely out of the question last year...but she sure did enjoy unwrapping her gifts!

So, that brings us to this year - Elise's 4th Christmas. I cannot believe how time has flown by. Looking at these pictures reminds me of how small Elise was when Jamie first came into our lives and how much she has grown since then! Here are her pictures from today.

That picture of Santa handing her a candycane is the closest that we are going to have to a picture of Elise with Santa this year! That was actually me wearing a Santa glove. I took Elise over to just see Santa from a distance today and observe her reaction. She started crying at the mere suggestion that she might like to go sit on his lap...so we will be skipping that little adventure this year! I suspected that would be the case, and now I know. At least I have a few Santa pictures from previous years.